ATL - Embiid Out for the Season

[paulpressey25]

How does this rate on the Pau Gasol scale?

As far as WWE league corruption I’d call them equal.

I like the Patrick Ewing frozen envelope

Yeah that rigged lottery was the worst.

[Baddy Chuck]

The Mavs spent the last couple years building their roster around Luka. They added a bunch of switchable bigs to protect against Luka's defensive liabilities on one end and give him a plethora of PNR rollers on the other.

To be fair, those are the types of guys AD has been begging the Lakers to get so he doesn't have to play center. Hell, he was begging for it like last week in the Shams interview .

[rilamann]

If game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals was a trade.

[skbucks1985]

i do think the return for luka is the nefarious element here.

i get why dallas could want to trade him and make AD the target as they are presently constructed. i think its the one pick and max christie thats the hold up. i get that and agree with it for the record. not getting the other pick and/or knecht or reeves is weird.

According to Nico Harrison him and Pelinka have been talking about a deal for a month and that may have been the hold up, Pelinka not budging on giving up more than just AD, Christie and the one pick. And I can believe that Saturday night was the point when Harrison had a deadline (whether its self-imposed or ownership-imposed is a distinction without a difference) to either pass on the deal at least until the offseason or take what the Lakers were offering.

[benultimate]

I don't know how Nico shows his face out in public in Dallas right now. I'd legit be concerned for his welfare

[ReddoverKobe]

i do think the return for luka is the nefarious element here.

i get why dallas could want to trade him and make AD the target as they are presently constructed. i think its the one pick and max christie thats the hold up. i get that and agree with it for the record. not getting the other pick and/or knecht or reeves is weird.

According to Nico Harrison him and Pelinka have been talking about a deal for a month and that may have been the hold up, Pelinka not budging on giving up more than just AD, Christie and the one pick. And I can believe that Saturday night was the point when Harrison had a deadline (whether its self-imposed or ownership-imposed is a distinction without a difference) to either pass on the deal at least until the offseason or take what the Lakers were offering.

And that is when you leak this and give every team in the league 48 hours to give you their god father offer for Luka. At worst the Lakers are now panicked and probably give up more.

[rilamann]

As shocking and shady as this trade seemed when it first happened.

It seems considerably more shocking and shady the more it sinks in. Sometimes a trade happens that is surprising at first, but then you kind of think about it and maybe it makes more sense than you first thought.

This one is so bad, the league's integrity as a whole is about to take a massive hit.

[Plossum]

I think its pretty simple, the new mavs owners are cheap and didnt want to supermax Luka.

Of all the commentary I’ve heard I think theory is prob most likely. They didn’t want to give Luka the $350mill given some possible red flags about his health and commitment to conditioning. But they still had ideas of grandeur about competing for a title. And so this is where they landed.

It’s either that or Luka murdered a hooker and Dallas wants to avoid the impending ****.

[VooDoo7]

Read on Twitter

Harrison says it "started with a coffee"

The whole time Pelinka had to be looking over his shoulder waiting for Ashton Kutcher to pop out.

[MickeyDavis]

Jrue looks cooked

[emunney]

they are the premier pfs in the league.
both insanely good.
id take giannis handily.
however in some situations ADs range and IQ and non league leading usage may have better value to a team as it relates to winning

for example.... doncic is a better player and talent than AD. yet i believe that there is 100% absolutely no doubt that this year as constructed dallas will be immediately better. with kyrie they dont need another ball dominator and they massively improved defensively with the move. perhaps for dame hed improve with a partner like AD. stuff like this matters

I'm with you on this. Was just at the gym trying to explain to folks why I think Dallas is actually better today after this trade. I still would have wanted a lot more for Luka, though.

This is the thing. I do think Dallas is better right now than they were yesterday. The problem is they essentially traded for like a 2-year window. If you're trading a superstar you need to start a bidding war and come away with a lot more.

I get the reasoning but I don't think Dallas' bigs are/were nearly bad enough for this to be true. They must have something lined up with one of those guys for a wing, not that I don't like Marshall and OMax.

I also don't think they have nearly enough creation now. I mean, the offense has been pathetic with Luka out, and now he's never coming back.

[Ayt]

It's one of the shadiest deals I've ever seen, and requires investigation but that won't happen.

- Nico Harrison has been friends with Rob Pelinka for 20+ years dating back to his days as a Nike executive and Pelinka as Kobe's agent
- By his own admission, these discussions have been in the works for a month+ and the Lakers were the ONLY team he talked to, making zero effort to scan the league and find the best offer.
- In part because of the above, they didn't even get the Lakers' best offer, allowing the Lakers to keep Reaves, Knecht, and their '31 1st
- Also revealed Luka never demanded a trade or gave any indication he wouldn't re-sign in Dallas or that he wanted LA

This is just absurd.

Harrison did not discuss potential Doncic trades with any franchise other than the Lakers, as the Mavericks made acquiring 10-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive Team selection Davis their goal. Harrison initiated talks with Los Angeles general manager Rob Pelinka over coffee when the Lakers were in Dallas to play the Mavs on Jan. 7, and those discussions progressed over the following weeks.

"We kept it between us," Harrison said. "We had to keep it tight. J-Kidd didn't know about it, but J-Kidd and I are aligned. We talk about archetypes, and we talk about the culture that we want to create. So I know the type of players that he likes without actually talking to him."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/43668078/davis-key-part-mavericks-vision-culture

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

i do think the return for luka is the nefarious element here.

i get why dallas could want to trade him and make AD the target as they are presently constructed. i think its the one pick and max christie thats the hold up. i get that and agree with it for the record. not getting the other pick and/or knecht or reeves is weird.

According to Nico Harrison him and Pelinka have been talking about a deal for a month and that may have been the hold up, Pelinka not budging on giving up more than just AD, Christie and the one pick. And I can believe that Saturday night was the point when Harrison had a deadline (whether its self-imposed or ownership-imposed is a distinction without a difference) to either pass on the deal at least until the offseason or take what the Lakers were offering.

And that is when you leak this and give every team in the league 48 hours to give you their god father offer for Luka. At worst the Lakers are now panicked and probably give up more.

yes...that all makes so much sense traditionally because mavs had the leverage if youre talking about "best value" league wide.

but if mavs could have gotten 8 picks blah blah blah and not turned around in a 3 way and got AD from the lakers or dealt luka straight up for Giannis or Wemby or whoever on that level.... then AD becomes their ultimate and almost only target if they truly believe a 2 way all nba big is their best chance to improve. he truly is the best available for what they were looking for.

so i think they fixated on only AD early because they knew the other bigs werent available. if anything its possible the lakers had the leverage once they made it known he was the mavs target. i doubt the lakers went into this thinking ohhh we got to go get luka. this whole thing sounds like the mavs pushing the lakers

[skbucks1985]

i do think the return for luka is the nefarious element here.

i get why dallas could want to trade him and make AD the target as they are presently constructed. i think its the one pick and max christie thats the hold up. i get that and agree with it for the record. not getting the other pick and/or knecht or reeves is weird.

According to Nico Harrison him and Pelinka have been talking about a deal for a month and that may have been the hold up, Pelinka not budging on giving up more than just AD, Christie and the one pick. And I can believe that Saturday night was the point when Harrison had a deadline (whether its self-imposed or ownership-imposed is a distinction without a difference) to either pass on the deal at least until the offseason or take what the Lakers were offering.

And that is when you leak this and give every team in the league 48 hours to give you their god father offer for Luka. At worst the Lakers are now panicked and probably give up more.

But if you think AD is what Harrison seems to think he is, then is it worth it to make Pelinka possibly get pissy over a 2031 draft pick and/or a mid-level prospect in Dalton Knecht 4 days before the deadline?

[Ayt]

but look at when shaq was dealt from LA, dwight from orlando, barkley from the sixers..... theres been alot of weird deals in this league where a poo platter came back for a star in their prime. im not sure you ever get the right value when its a superstar from fans perspectives. more recently you see these deals where a **** ton of picks and swaps and stuff move but thats more recent. like what we gave up for jrue seems more than this just as sheer assets go. how many picks is AD worth right now? more than what we gave for jrue...about the same?

i think it all comes down to how they view AD. i think they really wanted AD and got fixated there perhaps

Dude, Shaq and Dwight literally demanded to be traded and Barkley wanted out from a floundering 76ers franchise. By all accounts, Luka wanted to be in Dallas. It is insane to trade a 25-year-old at the level of Doncic unless he demands it.

[MikeIsGood]

Even if you grant that yes, they should trade Luka (which is wild), what they traded him for and that they talked with no one but the Lakers is what is especially insane here.

ETA: Also I had no idea until this deal that Markieff Morris was still in the league. He's been sitting on the Mavs bench the past three years lol.

[Ayt]

I think its pretty simple, the new mavs owners are cheap and didnt want to supermax Luka.

Of all the commentary I’ve heard I think theory is prob most likely. They didn’t want to give Luka the $350mill given some possible red flags about his health and commitment to conditioning. But they still had ideas of grandeur about competing for a title. And so this is where they landed.

It’s either that or Luka murdered a hooker and Dallas wants to avoid the impending ****.

So they turned to old, injury prone AD who also has a massive contract? If they wanted to save 10M or whatever they could have dumped some role players with draft picks.

[Ayt]

Even if you grant that yes, they should trade Luka (which is wild), what they traded him for and that they talked with no one but the Lakers is what is especially insane here.

It is unreal how hard Harrison got played by Pelinka. I bet he had no idea that the reaction would be this harsh. It certainly seemed that way to me in the press conference.

[LedZepp007]

As shocking and shady as this trade seemed when it first happened.

It seems considerably more shocking and shady the more it sinks in. Sometimes a trade happens that is surprising at first, but then you kind of think about it and maybe it makes more sense than you first thought.

This one is so bad, the league's integrity as a whole is about to take a massive hit.

This.

Usually I think about it for a while and calm down. The opposite is happening here


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

but look at when shaq was dealt from LA, dwight from orlando, barkley from the sixers..... theres been alot of weird deals in this league where a poo platter came back for a star in their prime. im not sure you ever get the right value when its a superstar from fans perspectives. more recently you see these deals where a **** ton of picks and swaps and stuff move but thats more recent. like what we gave up for jrue seems more than this just as sheer assets go. how many picks is AD worth right now? more than what we gave for jrue...about the same?

i think it all comes down to how they view AD. i think they really wanted AD and got fixated there perhaps

Dude, Shaq and Dwight literally demanded to be traded and Barkley wanted out from a floundering 76ers franchise. By all accounts, Luka wanted to be in Dallas. It is insane to trade a 25-year-old at the level of Doncic unless he demands it.

mavs coveted AD. they had one bullet. more caliber than they needed. they used it on their target.

they wanted a 2 way all nba big. he was the best available. i think its that simple. if im right then the lakers had the leverage